Handy's Flying Lessons
"Handy's Flying Lessons" is a story that takes place in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series. It is a combined adaptation of the comic book stories "The Flying Smurf" and "Smurf Plane" set in that particular universe. Plot Summary As Handy brings Empath home from Psychelia on his smurfplane at his 150th birthday, he tells two stories about his desire to fly. In the first story which takes place around Empath's 120th birthday, Handy had witnessed Empath's first demonstration of his flight capabilities and was so inspired to come up with a similar way that he could do so under his own power. However, most of his efforts turn out to be failures (and they also required him taking things from his fellow Smurfs to create them, much to their chagrin), until Handy decides to use a lighter-than-air formula in Papa Smurf's laboratory that would allow him to float in the air. Unfortunately, the formula made him too light and thus he was drifting higher and higher until he called out for help. Empath responded by tying a rope around him and flying up toward Handy in order to bring him down. Empath only managed to stop Handy from floating any higher, though, but with the rope attached to him, a group of Smurfs pulled on it and brought both Smurfs back down to the ground. After Papa Smurf was informed of what happened, Handy was given a heavier-than-air formula to counteract the effects of the earlier formula, making him heavy enough to stay on the ground. In the second story, which took place about five years before Empath's final return from Psychelia, Handy had built the first smurfplane and took it on a test flight over the village, though he ended up running over Smurfette's flowers, knocking down her chimney, and shredding her laundry. When Smurfette went out into the forest to gather more flowers, she was kidnapped by Gargamel, who then sent a message to the Smurfs, demanding them to give themselves up or else. Handy went after Gargamel with his smurfplane and buzzed around him, causing him to drop Smurfette long enough for Handy to catch her and pull her inside the smurfplane. Handy flew through the forest in the hope of losing Gargamel, but when the smurfplane started losing power, Handy quickly used the key to crank up the plane's motor before they fell completely to the ground. Gargamel then came up with his own flying invention with the help of the Great Book of Spells, and with that flying invention used it to drop web bombs all over the Smurf Village to capture the Smurfs. Handy confronted Gargamel with his own smurfplane and was attacked when the evil wizard opened fire on him by rapidly shooting acorns from his flying machine. Handy then flew his smurfplane through the wings of Gargamel's flying machine, causing him to lose control and to drop out of the sky, landing in a moat far away from the Smurf Village. However, Handy's smurfplane was now damaged beyond control, so he had to bail out before it crashed into a tree. Fortunately, Handy still had the plans to the smurfplane and so had built a new one for the occasion of bringing Empath back home. Notes * In the original comic book versions of the adapted stories, a character who would become known as Flying Smurf would take the roles that Handy Smurf plays here, though Handy would still be the Smurf who would build the smurfplane, which in the comics is called the Aerosmurf. * Handy Smurf consistently wears the white overalls that he does in the cartoon show, since these stories take place prior to Empath's final return from Psychelia, with only the framing part of the story happening on the day of his return. * Tapper and Duncan McSmurf were last-minute additions to the story and only have minor roles. Title Translations * French: Schtroumpf Bricoleur apprend à voler ("Handy Smurf Learns To Fly") * Spanish: Pitufo Manitas aprende a volar * German: Handy Schlumpf lernt fliegen * Italian: Puffo Inventore impara a volare * Dutch: Knutselsmurf leert vliegen The Story * /Part 1/ * /Part 2/ * /Part 3/ * /Part 4/ * /Part 5/ * /Part 6/ * /Part 7/ Possible Voice Cast Smurfs * Empath - Robert Duncan McNeil * Papa Smurf - Ethan Phillips * Smurfette - Hynden Walch * Polaris Psyche - Tim Russ * Brainy - Fred Armisen * Handy - Jensen Ackles * Hefty - Fred Tatasciore * Tapper - Karl Hanover * Duncan McSmurf - Alan Cumming Humans * Gargamel - Hank Azaria Animals * Azrael - Frank Welker Others * Psyche Master - Rick D. Wasserman Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf stories Category:Comic book story adaptations Category:Full story plot summaries Category:VicGeorge2K9's articles Category:Story main pages Category:Story anthologies Category:New invention stories Category:Papa Smurf's past stories Category:Empath's past stories Category:Tapper's past stories Category:Duncan McSmurf's past stories Category:Stories focusing on Handy Smurf Category:Flashback stories Category:Stories featuring Gargamel